|
|
 |
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Road to redemption Burress, Edwards look to exorcise demons of 2000
Updated: Saturday July 21, 2001 9:44 PM
LATROBE, Pa. -- This year, the swagger is missing. Their steps are a little less sure, their manner not quite as confident. Plaxico Burress and Troy Edwards didn't exactly conjure up images of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth last season, and Pittsburgh's two first-round receivers are quietly back at work, trying to make amends. As the Steelers' training camp gets in full swing this weekend in the scenic Laurel Highlands that surround St. Vincent College, questions about Burress and Edwards loom just over the horizon. After their disastrous showing in 2000, they have quickly reached a crossroads season in their still young careers. Neither player deserves to have the bust label applied based on last year alone, but it's an apt categorization that will be on everyone's lips this season should their high-profile struggles continue. And nobody in Pittsburgh's camp is mincing words about what's at stake for the team's 1999 and 2000 top draft picks. "I think they understand there's a lot of pressure being put on them, not only by the coaches, but by the media," Steelers new offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey said. "They're reading it, too. They understand the importance of what they do for this offense. They're young, but I think at some point that young excuse has got to fade. We need them to step up." After last year, up is the only possible direction Burress and Edwards could head. The two No. 1s hung a couple of glaring zeroes on the board, combining for just 40 catches for 488 yards and no touchdowns. After beginning the season as starters, both lost their place in the lineup and wound up watching unsung veterans Hines Ward, a third-round pick in 1998, and Bobby Shaw, an undrafted free agent, finish 1-2 among Steelers receivers.
That's far from what Pittsburgh had in mind when it bypassed Marshall quarterback Chad Pennington to select Burress with the No. 8 overall pick in 2000, just a year after taking Edwards 13th overall. The Steelers' 29th-ranked passing game (157.4 yards per game) reeled under the weight of Burress and Edwards' underachievement last season, and both bore a signficant portion of the blame for quarterback Kordell Stewart's continued troubles. "It was just a humbling year for me," said Burress, who jammed his right hand in last year's season opener, causing a wrist injury that eventually required season-ending surgery after 12 games. "It was probably one of the biggest challenges I've had in my life, because I've never played bad and never had a bad season before. It kind of caught me off guard when I played the way I did. "I can't do anything but go forward. I learned from every aspect last year, from being hurt and losing my position, to hearing it from the fans and the media and getting criticized. I survived it." Burress may or may not bring a new game to Pittsburgh this season, but he already has a new look. He added about 10 pounds of muscle to his 6-foot-5 frame, and at 235 has bulked up noticeably in the upper body and legs. "I'm a lot stronger," he said. "I'm just ready to put it to the test." But Saturday morning, in the Steelers' first full-scale practice of camp, there were some signs of the Burress who last year struggled mightily with drops and mistakes. Entering camp, Burress and Ward have the clear inside track on the starting jobs, with Shaw being the team's finest slot receiver. That leaves Edwards to potentially push Burress for playing time. "It's a big camp for Plaxico and it's a big camp for Troy," Steelers head coach Bill Cowher said warily last week. "It's important. ... But I've seen more maturity from both those guys. Just from how they approached the offseason and committed themselves. They realize it's a long process. It's not just one game or one practice." Burress the rookie finished as the team's third-leading receiver, with just 22 catches for 279 yards. He did not stretch the field the way the Steelers had envisioned, and never really lived down his embarrassing spike of a live ball in a Week 4 win at Jacksonville. But if anything, Edwards' dismal showing in 2000 -- 18 catches for 215 yards -- was even more mystifying. As a rookie in 1999, Edwards was streaky, but still set a Pittsburgh rookie record with 61 receptions for a team-best 714 yards. Then, after a preseason highlighted by some brash talk, he became a virtual non-entity in the Steelers' offense. "I had to get back up a lot from all the knockdowns I had last year," Edwards said. "I had a bad season, but I'm still here. I'm still living, and I can come back and redeem myself. Last year is last year. I can't change it. But it's over with and I've got to stop thinking about it. "I'm 24 years old. I have to learn from it all. I know what not to do now. I've already been through all the rough situations. Now it's time for the good times to start coming." While both Burress and Edwards have lost a little of their bravado, they scoff at the notion that the NFL proved more difficult than they had imagined. The level of competition didn't overcome them, only their approach failed. "Last year taught me to just take my job more seriously," Burress said. "I have to remember that I'm doing what I love to do and I've got the best job in the world. I've got to treat it that way." Last year served to lower the bar of expectation regarding Edwards and Burress's early impact, but some of last summer's self-assuredness is beginning to seep its way back into Edwards' vocabulary. Pittsburgh fans have not begun to see the high-priced tandem that the Steelers were banking on, but that, said Edwards, is just a matter of time. "Everybody knows they haven't seen the real Plax and the real Troy," he said. "Maybe a couple of plays here and there. But not the full package of us together. But believe me, Plaxico wasn't the eighth overall pick for nothing, and I wasn't the 13th overall pick for nothing. We got here for a reason." For the sake of both Burress and Edwards, those reasons best become self-evident this year. After a season of nothing, no one in Pittsburgh is going to be quite so tolerant ever again.
Don Banks covers pro football for CNNSI.com.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
